Your home printer might be truly awesome, but unless you’re trying to trick cashiers who have no concept of what real money looks like, you’re probably not going to fool anyone into thinking that the $20 bills produced in your home office are the real deal. [More]
Crime & Fraud
Uber Ordered To Pay $20 Million For Allegedly Exaggerating Drivers’ Potential Earnings
By 1.19.17
Popular ride-hailing service Uber has agreed to pay $20 million to close the book on federal charges that it used misleading and exaggerated earnings figures to attract new drivers to work with the company. [More]
Western Union Will Pay $585 Million For Not Doing Enough To Stop Wire Fraud
By 1.19.17
Whether it’s the “distant relative stranded in a foreign country” scam or the “you’ve won the lottery but you have to pay us scam” or any other variation on this remotely operated ruse, wire transfer services like Western Union are often the conduit for getting that money from the victim to the scammer. After years of being accused of not doing enough to clamp down on fraud by its customers, Western Union has agreed to pay $585 million to federal authorities and admit that its policies — and some of its agents — aided and abetted wire fraud. [More]
Federal Prosecutors: Drug Ring Sold Heroin Through Facebook, Snapchat
By 1.19.17
Legitimate businesses aren’t the only people using social media to reach customers, and online drug sales apparently aren’t relegated to darknet markets. Federal prosecutors say an alleged drug ring operating in Atlanta took advantage of various social platforms to advertise and accept heroin orders. [More]
Pizzeria Claims Enraged UberEATS Driver Fired BB Gun Into Restaurant
By 1.19.17
Whether you’re into the idea of food delivery robots or not, they’ve got one thing going for’em: they’re not about to get mad and shoot up a restaurant if their plans are scuttled. Unlike the UberEATS driver who’s accused of firing a BB gun into a pizzeria after the eatery denied him a delivery order. [More]
Samsung Vice Chair Avoids Arrest In Connection With South Korean Bribery Case
By 1.19.17
Days after a South Korean special prosecutor investigating a bribery scandal involving the country’s President sought the arrest of Samsung’s vice chairman, a court denied the request, citing a lack of evidence. [More]
United Airlines Passenger Arrested For Fabricating Bomb Threat On Flight
By 1.18.17
While some passengers disrupt flights with drunken rages, verbally abusive outbursts, or other violent actions, others are quieter in their approach. Like a United Airlines passenger who was arrested after allegedly making up a bomb threat and reporting it to the flight crew. [More]
Supreme Court Hears Arguments In Dispute Over “Scandalous” Trademarks
By 1.18.17 — Updated: 1.19.17
Should your company’s brand, slogan, or logo lose its federal trademark protection just because it’s offensive? Under current law, yes, but today the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that questions whether or not the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office should involve itself in questions of taste. [More]
Student Loan Giant Navient Sued By CFPB & Two States Over Alleged Illegal Practices
By 1.18.17
Eighteen months after Sallie Mae spin-off Navient revealed that its wholly-owned subsidiary Navient Solutions Inc could one day be on the receiving end of a federal lawsuit related to its student loans servicing practices, the day has come to pass. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, along with two states, filed lawsuits against the nation’s largest student loan company for allegedly cheating borrowers out of repayment rights. [More]
Feds Halt Phony Rental Home Scheme That Raked In Millions In Bogus Credit Check Fees
By 1.18.17
For years now we’ve been warning consumers about the apartment rental credit check scam: a scheme where homes (that may not even exist) are listed online with the sole purpose of tricking prospective renters into paying for “credit checks” that will never be done. Today, federal regulators announced they had put a stop to one company accused of using bogus listings and fees to swindle millions out of hopeful tenants. [More]
Samsung “Smart” Camera Is Ridiculously Hackable
By 1.18.17
A security camera in your house, that you can access remotely, might seem like a good idea at first. You can log into it from anywhere, to see what’s going on and if it really was the cat who opened your kitchen cabinets every day last week. But the problem with a thing you can access remotely is that a sufficiently determined bad actor can, too. And sometimes it doesn’t even take much determination to do. [More]
Walmart Employee Stops Elderly Couple From Losing $2,500 To “Grandparents Scam”
By 1.18.17
An elderly Illinois couple still has $2,500 in the bank thanks to an alert Walmart employee who thought something was amiss when the shoppers tried to transfer the funds to prepaid gift cards. [More]
Should Anti-MLM Blogger Be Allowed To Remain Anonymous, Even After Losing In Court?
By 1.17.17
Four years ago, an anonymous former Amway marketer who operates a blog critical of multi-level marketing companies published in its entirety the text of a book published by a prominent figure in the MLM industry. The publisher of that book successfully sued this unnamed blogger for copyright infringement, but the court allowed the shroud of anonymity to stay in place. Now the publisher is calling on a federal appeals court to unmask the blogger, while free speech advocates argue that there is no need to know this person’s identity. [More]
Airline Introducing Rows Just For Women Amid Recent Reports Of Groping
By 1.17.17
We’ve heard of “quiet zones” on planes that separate children from adults, but a new seating option launching on India’s national airline is new to us: amid reports of men groping and otherwise sexually assaulting women on flights, Air India is introducing female-only rows. [More]
Texas Uber Driver Accused Of Raping Passenger After Driving Her Home
By 1.17.17
Another driver for a ride-sharing sharing service has been accused of assaulting a passenger. This time, it’s an Uber driver in Texas who has been arrested for allegedly raping a woman after driving her home. [More]
South Korean Prosecutors Seek Arrest Of Samsung Vice Chair Linked To Bribery Scandal
By 1.16.17
A week after a South Korean special prosecutor investigating a bribery scandal called on Samsung’s vice chairman for questioning, officials are calling for the tech company executive’s arrest. [More]
Moody’s Hit With $864M Penalty For Role In Mortgage Meltdown
By 1.13.17
While much of the anger surrounding the mortgage meltdown was focused on shady mortgage lenders and investment banks, a less-discussed but nonetheless culpable party were the credit-rating agencies that rubber-stamped mortgage-backed securities that were sometimes worth about as much as a used lottery ticket. [More]
Feds Shut Down Two Massive Illegal Robocall Operations
By 1.13.17 — Updated: 1.14.17
Fighting robocalls might seem as pointless as chasing a greased pig, but occasionally you’re able to get your slick mitts on a slippery swine and hold on, if only for a moment. Today, the Federal Trade Commission managed to nab a pair of particularly large robocalling pigs, who have allegedly been violating the Do Not Call Registry for at least five years. [More]
